Healthcare has a deeply rooted gender problem. Women over-index in ALL types of pain, yet they’re more likely to have their pain ignored or dismissed by healthcare practitioners. Add to this the fact that almost all pain research is still only done on men, making society’s knowledge of pain in women woefully incomplete, and what you’re left with is a genuine health crisis for women. One that is leaving thousands in on-going, undiagnosed pain. It’s a phenomenon known as The Gender Pain Gap.

For Nurofen, a painkiller brand dedicated to putting people, not pain, in charge of life, this was painful to hear. So, we set out to tackle the issue.

Our goal was to raise awareness of The Gender Pain Gap, both amongst consumers and healthcare practitioners, to help women becoming more empowered and HCPs more informed and willing to change.

The core of the issue was that women’s pain was invisible: invisible in research and clinical trials, and invisible in the eyes of healthcare professionals. With See My Pain, we aimed to make it visible.

Through an integrated PR, TV, print and digital campaign we shone a light on the scale of the problem, emboldening women to come forward with their experiences, and empowering others to feel more confident in the doctors’ office. We created a new product range that highlighted the real dismissal women have received instead of treatment, validating the pains that have for so long gone ignored. And used this material to inform and educate healthcare professionals via a targeted digital campaign.

Through this platform, Nurofen also launched a series of industry-first commitments including pioneering gender equal clinical trials, new research grants and gender bias training in Boots and Superdrug for 10,000 healthcare professionals.

Research indicated that women take 4 years longer to get chronic conditions diagnosed vs men, and are more likely to have their pain misdiagnosed as anxiety. The result of both limited knowledge of female pain conditions, and unconscious bias against women (the assumption being that women are more emotional and more likely to complain about pain).

We spoke to hundreds of women who shared accounts of going back and forth to doctor appointments with unexplained pain and being met with the same dismissals again and again: “But your tests look normal,” “are you sure you’re in pain?” “Could it be stress, have you tried yoga?”

This response left them feeling invalidated, dejected and crucially without solutions to their pain.

If we could make women’s pain, and these painful experiences more visible both to medical professionals and women themselves then perhaps we could bring them one step closer to finding relief.

The Gender Pain Gap is a complex issue. We employed a considered and co-ordinated response to tackle it:

*We first shed light on the issue with some much-needed data that would make women’s pain impossible to ignore. We commissioned the first ever Gender Pain Gap Index report, featuring the experiences of 10,000 men and women. This provided valuable first party data to validate the issue and fuel news coverage.

*We used this moment to announce our system-changing commitments such as gender matched clinical trials and research investment.

*We followed this up with a hard-hitting consumer campaign (TV and social media) that honed-in on the dismissals and misdiagnoses women have received in response to their accounts of pain. Featuring real women’s experiences and directing women to the website for further advice and support.

*Finally, this was all used to create bespoke healthcare professional training material aimed at correcting the endemic bias.

We positively implanted the issue in culture -

• 300+ pieces earned media coverage including Sky News, Daily Mail, Stylist, WSJ, Forbes delivering 582m reach.

• Spiked google search for ‘Gender Pain Gap,’ overtaking both Bodyform campaign and UK Government’s Women’s Health Announcement.

• 650% increase in positive brand sentiment

We engaged women -

• +3,000 posts / comments from women on campaign material, connecting and sharing experiences.

We engaged HCPs -

• Influential HCPs posted support: Dr Nighat (BBC Breakfast), Dr Philipa Kaye (This Morning). This is hugely important as Influencers are heavily regulated in UK pharma – posting a branded report organically is almost unheard of.

• Training to 10,000+ pharmacy staff

• 87% of HCPs researched acknowledge the problem.

• TVC more than x2 more effective and engaging than Nurofen’s standalone BAU campaign

• Driving 2% increase in ROI on BAU TVC when played in combination